John Brown’s preacher inspires

May 13, 2013

SHARPSBURG, Md. - When families gather for reunions, discussions usually surround favorite recipes for potato salad as well as talk of current events, but especially memories of the past that comprise family traditions.

For one area family, discussions of its past also are about local and national history.

As they have since the days of abolitionist John Brown, who in 1859 prior to his raid on Harpers Ferry attended Sample's Manor Church to hear the sermons of The Rev. George Sigler, numerous relatives of Solomon J. Montgomery, a fellow parishioner who would become a preacher himself, gathered at the historical site recently for a service commemorating Montgomery's legacy.

Present were many of his descendents, including four great-grandsons and one great-great-grandson, who are continuing in their ancestor's footsteps in their own vocations as preachers today.

The Rev. James Moss Sr., of Harrisburg, Pa., is one of them.

Moss is also a Civil War historian and published author. Four bound volumes comprise his collection of Churches of God daily newspaper accounts written by Harpers Ferry-based Church Editor E.H. Thomas from 1859 to 1863.

The accounts include war news, but also detailed stories of everyday life during the pivotal time in U.S. history.

For Montgomery's descendents, the documents hold special significance, as they relay details of their family's heritage.

"It's important to know where you came from to know where you're going," Moss said.

Moss said the material is largely unedited from how it appeared in print at that time. Numerous accounts are of death records of fallen soldiers.

"As many soldiers died from diseases such as typhoid, measles, dysentery and pneumonia as they did from battle wounds," Moss said about the estimated 620,000 combat casualties that occurred as a result of Civil War battles.

Moss emphasized the accounts he has gathered were written from a specific perspective.

"They are pro-Northern, pro-Lincoln, very abolitionist and Christian," the pastor said, whose great-grandfather was converted to Christianity's Churches of God by Sigler in 1865.

Thomas' letters reveal excerpts on prominent social and political issues which consumed readers at that time - secession and taxation, the number of casualties resulting from specific battles, the cotton crop, weather conditions and also moral proclamations against theft and war but especially slavery.

Moss pointed out his religion's 1825 founder, John Winebrenner, was a "non-interventionist" who wanted to avoid war around the issue of slavery, which was a "sin" in his eyes that the Church founder predicted would simply "die out" due to its ultimate non-profitability.

"A man, I suppose, delivers himself from the guilt of slavery at the very moment when he, in the sight of God, renounces all right in his fellow man, and acts in sincerity of heart in the presence of his judge, in conformity with that renunciation," Thomas wrote.

According to Thomas' accounts, his Church's followers believed conscience should guide people's affairs; though opinionated in regards to moral principles, they were peaceful, believing that war was "a work of the Devil."

"No, never, until swords, bayonets, guns, powder, lead, revenge, blood and carnage become the natural and essential or necessary fruits of Christian benevolence, love and forgiveness, (shall 'war' be able to exist in the Church)," reads one of Thomas' editorials.

Perhaps most noteworthy of the Church editor's accounts is a stark account given by Sigler of abolitionist John Brown's actions during the week prior to his Oct. 17, 1859 raid on strategic Harpers Ferry, an insurrectionist effort for which Brown was hanged for treason in nearby Charles Town on Dec. 2.

According to Sigler, Brown and his constituents "took possession of the house on Kennedy's farm near Sample's Manor, about four miles from Harpers Ferry, professing to be prospecting for ore in the mountains. The leader, a gray-bearded and gray-headed man, went by the name of 'Smith.'"

Sigler's account continues, "He was kind and generous to his neighbors, sending pieces of meat to them after he would slaughter a hog."

Sigler said Brown and his men often attended sermons he preached.

"The old leader was an interested, attentive hearer," Sigler said of Brown.

After Brown (aka "Smith") was captured, Sigler went to where Brown was being held.

"Our eyes met," Sigler recalled in the article, "and we knew at once we were preacher and hearer."

For Moss, whose great-grandfather's life was ultimately determined by sermons given by the same preacher that was heard by abolitionist John Brown, the well-known Civil War incident that occurred locally holds not only national importance but maintains personal significance for him and family members.

Moss said Montgomery's legacy as a "man of God" continues in the lives of thousands of area descendants today, and many of them have followed in their Union soldier-turned-preacher ancestor's footsteps by becoming ordained ministers themselves.

Moss said, like many of his relatives, in addition to preaching his great-grandfather also was a skilled tradesman, overseeing during his lifetime the construction of the main room at Sample's Manor Church, located in Washington County, Md.

Moss said Montgomery's ultimate legacy to their family, however, was his great-grandfather's spiritual foundation in Christianity.

"My mother told stories about when as children she and her friends would walk six miles to hear him preach," Moss recalled, "and six miles back again."

According to records, Montgomery originally was from New York and volunteered for duty in the Union Army in 1861, serving for the next four years in the 1st U. S. Artillery.

He saw numerous battles including the Siege of Port Hudson, La., which occurred five days after the decisive battle at Vicksburg, Miss.

Montgomery totally lost his hearing during the war, which was a common malady for soldiers in the artillery, Moss said. For his disability, Montgomery received a pension.

After the Civil War ended in 1865, the retired soldier settled in Burkittsville, Md. There, he was converted to Christianity by Sigler and in the same year married 22-year-old Mary Smith.

The couple would have nine children together and, though uneducated, Montgomery would go on to become the Rev. Solomon J. Montgomery. Until his death in 1918, he preached fiery sermons and pulpit supply in rural Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania for churches in Antietam, Locust Valley and Williamsport among others in his "circuit," in addition to Sample's Manor.

According to Moss, two highlights of Montgomery's ministry include the reopening of the Blair's Valley Church of God near Clear Spring, Md., and the founding of the Maple Grove Church of God near Mercersburg, Pa., both which still today continue to exist with meaningful ministries, Moss said.

Montgomery is buried at Sample's Manor Church alongside his wife.

It was written of Montgomery after his death, "A great man has fallen ... But he still speaks-in the lives of those he has been instrumental in saving ... His legacy was rich. He was a faithful servant."

Moss said today more than 15 of Montgomery's descendants are ordained ministers - including him; his son, Jim Moss Jr. of Camp Hill, Pa.; and cousins, brothers Robert and Charles Gower of Manassas, Va., and Shepherdstown, respectively.

Four of Moss' nephews also are credentialed pastors - Robert Wills Jr. of Walkersville, Md.; David Moss of York, Pa.; Jeff Moss of Middletown, Md.; and the late Mark Moss of Frederick, Md.

"It gave his life a purpose and meaning," Moss said about Montgomery's 1865 post-Civil War conversion to peace and Christianity. "And he would tell you it gave him hope for life eternal."

After the commemorative service ended, numerous descendents of Solomon Montgomery gathered for photos and visited the gravesites of their ancestor, who endowed them with their rich, local heritage, which is both part of their country's and personal histories.